What Do You Want to Do?

PERT Encapsulated Diver

• Duration: 2-3 Days
• Number of dives: Minimum 4
• Prerequistes:
  • 18 years old
  • PADI Open Water Diver (or equivalent)
• Cost: 15,500 equipment rental and certification.
• Complete Professional Training: Check out our PERT Internships
• More Info: Professional Emergency Response Training Overview

Be dive-ready for any environment with the new PERT Encapsulated Diver course. This three-day program integrates two previously separate courses – Dry Suit and Full-Face Mask w/Surface Communications – to provide a student training that’s as close to real-world conditions as possible.

Students will begin with dry suit training, essential for rescues and recoveries in frigid temperatures. It covers the various types of dry suits, accessories, maintenance and how to make basic repairs. Taking this professional-level course to a higher level, PERT Encapsulated Diver will also cover dry suit emergencies, such as air leaks, flooding and broken valves. Confined and open water dives are included and the course is limited to four students max to ensure ultimate attention by the instructor.

Once students are comfortable with the dry suit, they strap on the full-face mask, a degree beyond what any recreational diver has ever experience. Now the diver is completely “encapsulated” in a full dry suit and with a mask that covers the entire face and allows, in what is probably a first for most divers, to speak underwater.

This segment of the course will familiarize students with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems and hazards of using a Full Face Mask in non-overhead environments. Classroom, confined water and open water training, as well as a final exam, are all required.

The full-face mask training covers the advantages of emergency response diving in this advanced gear, including the ability for underwater and surface communications. But with the advantages that come from using such masks in contaminated and cold water come the challenges of increased air consumption, buoyancy control, and the sheer bulk of the equipment. Students will learn about different types of masks, how to put on, dive with and maintain their units. The course also covers different types of communications units and technical problems that might be encountered.

Below is a detailed syllabus of the Encapsulated Diver program:

Part 1: Dry Suit

1. Types of dry suits
1. Shell style.
2. Crushed neoprene.
3. Neoprene.
4. Types of seals
1. Latex.
2. Neoprene.
2. Features
1. Self don.
2. Shoulder or rear entry.
3. Boots.
4. Zipper guard - protect waterproof zipper from chaffing.
5. Warm Neck Collar.
6. Suspenders.
3. Dive wear Insulation
1. Cut to be close to skin.
2. Compression-resistant.
3. Dive wear is primarily made of polyester fibers or polypropylene.
4. Dry suit Valves
1. Inflator
1. Push to inflate.
2. To maintain the air space created by the Dry suit.
2. Deflator
1. Push to dump an adjustable.
2. Simple open & close system.
5. Buoyancy Control
1. Proper Weighting
1. Tanks Weights.
2. Weight Integrated BCD.
3. Harness System.
2. Maintaining neutral buoyancy underwater.
3. Dry Suit is not a substitute for a proper BCD.
6. Maintenance and care
1. Flush with fresh water.
2. Dry inside first.
3. Avoid heat, chemicals and oils.
4. Zipper care
1. Clean inside and out (toothbrush).
2. Use only Paraffin wax never Silicon Spray.
5. Minor Repairing
6. The use of water-soluble lubricants inside wrist seals to ease wear and tear on wrist seals while donning the suit.
7. Dry suit Emergencies
1. Excessive air in suit.
2. Inflator valve stuck open or leaking air.
3. Exhaust valve stuck closed.
4. Accidentally dropped weights.
5. Excessive air in feet.
6. Dry suit flooded.

Part 2: Full-Face Mask w/Communications

1. Purpose
   1. Diver Safety
   2. Communications
2. Advantages
   1. Increased Diver Safety
      1. Contaminated Water
      2. Winter Diving
   2. Communications
   3. Corrective Lenses
3. Disadvantages
   1. Increased Air Consumption
   2. Buoyancy
   3. Bulky
4. Types
   1. Appropriate/Inappropriate
   2. Scuba
      1. Quick Connect/Disconnect
   3. Surface Supplied
5. Techniques/Procedures
   1. Donning
      1. In Water vs. Out of Water
      2. Strap Adjustment
      3. Skirt Seal
   2. Diving with a Full Face Mask
      1. Equalization
      2. Buoyancy
      3. Removal and Replacement Underwater
      4. Alternate Air Source Use
         1. Spare Mask
      5. Surface Options
         1. Surface Valve
6. Underwater Communications
   1. Types of Comm. Gear
      1. PTT
      2. VOX
      3. Hardwire/Tether
      4. Battery Failure
   2. User/Field Maintenance and Care
      1. Authorized Servicing/Preventive Maintenance
      2. After Use

PERT Program Courses

• PERT Home
• Intoduction to Emergency Response Diving
• Emergency Response Diver
• Encapsulated Diver
• Self-Sufficiency Diver
• PERT Low-Visbility & Black Water Search Diver